Chapter 2

Teacup And Coffee Cup Divination

ALTHOUGH there are astrological methods, in which the trends of astrological

currents and their influence upon events are employed, and methods depending upon

the observation of natural phenomena such as out-of-doors people often use, most

divination depends upon the exercise, in some degree, of that which now is called

Extra-Sensory Perception, more commonly referred to merely as ESP.

This means that the diviner exercises, on the inner plane where they are not subject to

the restrictions of time, gravitation and distance imposed by physical substance, the

senses and faculties of his soul. Soul and conscious mind are synonymous terms for

the sum total of an individual’s consciousness as it persists upon the inner plane. His

objective consciousness consists of such portions of this consciousness of his soul as,

through electrical energies generated in the nervous system, can at the time impart

their energies to the cells of the physical brain. Most methods of divination stimulate

the senses and faculties of the soul to gain the desired information on the inner plane

and then project it up into the brain in such a manner that it can be objectively

recognized.

The ability of the senses and faculties of the soul to acquire information on the inner

plane is as susceptible to development through training as is the ability of the

physical senses and faculties to acquire information on the physical plane. Yet even

as the normal individual with almost no training can acquire considerable

information from physical sources, so the normal individual also has the power to

acquire considerable information through ESP even though he has had no previous

experience or special training. And although those specially gifted, and those who

have had sufficient training, do not need such helps, others find some form of

divinatory instrument a decided advantage. With it, much as a scientist can see things

with a microscope or a telescope which are invisible to his unaided eye, they are able

to bring information through from the inner plane of which they would be totally

unaware without its assistance.

Direct Perception and Symbolic

Perception

—While the soul senses cannot contact physical conditions directly, they can contact

the astral counterparts of physical things and trace their world-lines as well as gain

access to information which belongs exclusively to the inner plane. But whatever

information is thus acquired from inner-plane sources, before it can be recognized by

objective consciousness, or whether it is ever recognized by objective

consciousness, first resides as a memory in the soul, or unconscious mind. And to

bring it through into objective recognition it is subject to the processes that enable

physical perceptions or objective conclusions to be remembered.

Yet in comparison to physical experiences which the individual strives to remember

these Extra-Sensory Perceptions are heavily handicapped. The physical experiences

when they entered consciousness utilized electrical energies to modify the physical

brain-cells. It was this impression of the physical brain-cells which constituted

objective consciousness of the experiences. The electrical energy associated with the

brain-cells thus impressed imparted some of its motions to the inner-plane substance

of the soul. And this organization of energy within the soul persisted in the soul as a

memory.

Now to remember some physical experience, or some thought which once has passed

through the brain, requires that the inner-plane organization of energy within the soul

which constitutes the real memory of the occurrence or thought shall connect up with

electrical energies in the brain sufficiently that it can use them again to impress the

brain-cells in the same manner they were impressed when the experience to be

remembered first took place. But as channels for electrical energies of the required

modulation already have been established to the brain-cells that originally registered

the experience, and as the brain-cells have already been modified to accommodate

objective consciousness of the experience or thought, the soul needs to command

very little electrical energy to cause the experience or thought to be remembered. As

soon as the experience or thought gains the attention of the soul and thus acquires

some additional inner-plane energy by which electrical currents can be set in motion,

these electrical currents find both an open channel and preconditioned brain-cells

waiting to give the memory objective recognition.

But an inner-plane experience finds no such open channel, and no such

electromagnetically preconditioned brain-cells waiting to register the impression.

Instead, it must either command sufficient electrical energy to make its own path and

impress brain-cells as they have not before been impressed, or it must follow

channels already prepared by previous experiences and impress brain-cells in the

manner they at some previous time have been impressed.

The electrical energies that more commonly can be commanded by an inner-plane

experience are not vigorous enough to make new paths and impress brain-cells that

have not previously been properly modified. When they move through the brain,

there fore, they are deflected from the course which would register direct perception

of the experience into channels which lead to brain-cells which have previously

registered other experiences which are closely associated in the unconscious mind

with these experiences. That is, they follow the line of least resistance.

Furthermore, this principle of following the line of least resistance applies also to the

image or thought even before it communicates its energy to electromagnetic forces.

There are conflicts and repressions and various forms of competitions between

factors in the unconscious mind which make it easy for some thoughts and images to

acquire much energy for purposes of expression, and which restrict or prohibit other

images from acquiring energy for purposes of expression. Censorship or emotional

accentuation exists for many images in varying degrees. Thus that which is

recognized by objective consciousness after some Extra-Sensory Perception more

frequently is not that which was actually witnessed on the inner plane, but quite

different images which are tied, through the Law of Association, to that which was

actually perceived.

The unconscious mind, for reasons fully explained in lesson No. 58, finds it easier to

communicate whatever it has perceived to objective consciousness by means of

symbols rather than by means of lately acquired arbitrary words. And it also, for the

reason just explained, usually finds it easier to present to objective consciousness

images which are linked through association with what it perceived, than to present

the images it actually perceived, and as they reside in the memory of the soul.

Extra-Sensory Perceptions, therefore, are of two types, direct perceptions and

symbolic perceptions. Direct perceptions are those in which the images and

information are presented to objective consciousness as they are perceived by the

soul. Symbolic perceptions are those in which the images and information presented

to objective consciousness must be interpreted through converting them into other

images and meanings to determine just what was perceived on the inner plane and its

true significance.

Thus in gazing into a globe of glass or into a magic mirror, the globe will become

cloudy, or white clouds will appear on the surface of the mirror, then they will clear

and a picture will be presented to the diviner of certain happenings. Events will be

seen much as they appear on the movie screen. The diviner may even see himself as

one of the actors in this drama. Nor is it always a silent drama; for not infrequently he

may hear the words that are spoken, and smell the odor of the flowers that are seen.

The picture so beheld may be an event that is actually transpiring on the physical

plane at a distance, or it may be an event which has not yet come to pass on the

physical plane but which eventually will happen just as witnessed. In either case the

divination is of the direct perception type, not because a divinatory instrument is or

IS not used, but because what is seen needs no translating into other terms to be

understood.

With training many people are able to practice divination without any manner of

divinatory instrument. And in so doing they may see, hear and feel happenings on the

inner plane just as they actually are occurring at a distance on the physical plane, or as

they will occur in the future on the physical plane. Such independent use of ESP is

greatly preferable in the higher phases of occult developments. But most will find it

much easier, at least at start, to use some form of divinatory device. Almost anyone

with a little practice can learn to get some results in this way. Yet whether ESP is

practiced independently of a divinatory device or with its aid, it will be found usually

much easier to gain the desired information through Symbolic Perception than

through such Direct Perception as has just been described. Even when a crystal globe

or magic mirror is the instrument used, the first images seen usually are of the

symbolic type, and often information of great value is obtained through them.

Therefore, while here not treating specifically of crystal and magic mirrors, nor of the

exercise of ESP apart from divinatory instruments, much that I shall say about other

methods of divination, and particularly about the function of symbols, also, of

necessity, applies to them.

In ancient times, moreover, the flight of birds was observed as a means of foreseeing

the future. Another method, which has been abandoned, I am glad to say, was to

slaughter an animal and cut it open and from the entrails discern that which was to

come to pass. Dreams also, in olden times, as repeatedly recorded in the Bible and in

ancient history, were looked upon as presignifying the future. And while they have a

different significance to the psychoanalyst, they also may be made the means of

gaining much foreknowledge at the present day.

Teacup and Coffee Cup Divination

—But among the various divinatory instruments, none is easier to use than the teacup

or the coffee cup; and either offers possibilities which are quite astounding.

A cup that is white and glossy inside is best. In pouring the tea or coffee, pains should

be taken that there are enough tea-leaves or coffee-grounds that when they are shaken

about they will fairly well cover the bottom of the cup. That is, if spread out on the

bottom of the cup no large areas of the white cup-bottom should show through. It is

not absolutely essential that there should be this many leaves or grounds, but this

amount—say half a teaspoonful—seems to give the widest range in their subsequent

arrangement. Neither is it necessary that the person whose cup is read should drink

the tea or coffee. He should be, however, the only person to handle the cup after the

cup is drained of tea or coffee until the leaves or grounds have been distributed and

the cup is handed to the diviner to be read.

As it is customary for tea and coffee to be strained as poured into the cups, it is quite

permissible while a little tea or coffee remains in the cup to have half a teaspoonful of

leaves or grounds added to it expressly for the purpose of having enough material for

divination .

Nearly all of the tea or coffee liquid should be drained off, just enough moisture

remaining that the leaves or grounds when shaken will stick to the side of the cup as

well as to its bottom. Then the person whose cup is to be read should concentrate his

mind on that which he desires to know from the cup. If there is some particular

information he wants, he should hold the thought strongly that he expects the correct

answer to this question to be found in the cup. If he seeks a serious and intelligent

reading he should be very much in earnest. If there is no particular information

sought, he may hold the thought strongly in his mind that the cup will truthfully

reveal the future. Whatever he seeks from the cup should be clearly and strongly

formulated in his mind.

Then holding the cup at such a distance that he cannot see into it, and while keeping

his mind on what he desires it to reveal, he should shake the cup about in such a

manner that the leaves or grounds will be distributed over the bottom and side of the

cup.

He should give whatever kind of motion, in the distribution of the contents, that he

feels impelled to make. Then without looking into it to see how the contents are

arranged he should turn the cup upside down in the saucer. Finally, to complete the

ceremony, he should revolve the cup around in the saucer, while it is still upside

down, turning it around thus from left to right—in the direction the hands of a clock

move—three times around. No one, after this, should be allowed to touch the cup, or

look into it, until it is given to the diviner to read.

The diviner may be the person whose cup is to be read, or another person. But for the

best results it is essential that no person shall see the inside of the cup except the

person giving the reading, until after the reading is completely finished. The reason

for this is that another person seeing the symbols in the cup is apt to form conclusions.

These conclusions may be perfectly correct and result in an accurate reading if

followed to their full destination in the proper order of sequence. But the diviner in

reading the cup contacts these conclusions projected from the other person’s mind,

through the symbols that have given rise to them, and thus approaches the matter

from a point of view that is not his own. Such mental contagion as it is called by them,

is well recognized as influencing the results obtained by academic experimenters in

ESP. And unless the mentioned precaution is taken it may warp the diviner’s usual

method of interpretation. Thus do the best results require that no one but the diviner

shall see what is in the cup until after the reading is completed, and that during the

reading he should not be hurried or unduly interrupted.

The diviner then takes the cup into his hands and gazes intently into it. As a rule, the

more completely his mind becomes absorbed in contemplating the inside of the cup,

and the more oblivious he becomes to his external surroundings, the clearer the

reading he is able to give. A state approaching abstraction, in which the contents of

the cup are minutely examined, but in which thoughts unrelated to them are

inhibited, is often found best. No hard and fast rules can be laid down as to this,

however, for the conditions that permit the content of the unconscious mind of one

person best to impress itself upon the everyday consciousness may not be the

conditions that best permit another person’s unconscious mind to register its

thoughts on the everyday consciousness. Some even find it best to engage in

conversation, only glancing into the cup now and then, and in this glance perceiving a

symbol to be interpreted. In this case very brief periods of intent concentration

interspersed with long periods of relaxation in conversation yield better results than a

long period of steady concentration. A little experimental practice, however, enables

a person to determine the manner in which he can perceive clearly the most symbols

and get impressions concerning their interpretation.

The whole process of manipulating the cup, before it is given to the diviner to read, is

for the purpose of arranging the tea-leaves or coffee-grounds into symbolic groups

and forms. In this arrangement, when the person is very much in earnest, his thought

cells working from the inner plane, and at times other inner-plane intelligences, exert

an influence.

The tea-leaves or coffee-grounds, as they are agitated about in the cup in association

with a small amount of liquid, are acted upon strongly by electromagnetic energies

manipulated by the mentioned inner-plane intelligences. This tends to cause them to

form groups and diagrams of proper symbolic import correctly and intelligently to

answer the desire in the mind of the person in whose cup they are found.

The combined inner-plane intelligences present may act largely through the

unconscious muscular movements of the person, in thus arranging the leaves or

grounds, much as it may do in table-tipping, in using the Ouija board, or in automatic

writing. Or, on other occasions, it may act more directly upon the leaves or grounds,

their saturated condition facilitating their movement by the electromagnetic energies

surrounding persons present.

A little experimentation, under proper conditions, joined to careful observation, will

quickly convince the open-minded that, aside from the ESP ability displayed by the

diviner, the leaves or grounds often take such form as unmistakably and intelligently

to answer the thought in the mind of the person. It is certain that there is often present,

when a person who has faith in cup-divination is manipulating the cup prior to a

reading, some intelligent force that causes the contents of the cup to assume such

forms as to answer correctly with the information the person desires. On occasions,

too, there will be perhaps but a single symbol stand out in the cup, and this symbol of

such obvious form that anyone looking at it will see it as the same symbol, and this

universally accepted as representing a certain condition or event; yet when the events

come to pass they prove the verity of the symbol so seen. The world-lines which will

converge in the production of definite events are perceived by the person’s soul, and

it utilizes such electromagnetic energies as are present to cause the contents of the

cup to assume such forms as most readily will be recognized as presaging the events

thus foreseen.

Reading the Cup

—The diviner, when he takes the cup into his hands to read it, should permit his

imagination full play. There may be symbols in the cup, so arranged by the

inner-plane intelligences present, that they are obvious and their import may not be

mistaken. But to rely solely upon these obvious symbols is greatly to curtail the

amount of information that may be had. What is being striven for is to bring up into

the region of everyday consciousness as many images as possible that are perceived

by the soul regarding the person. To do this a large variety of trial images may be

permitted to pass through the mind. That is, the imagination should be allowed full

play in regard to the images the various groups of leaves or grounds suggest to the

mind. It is not necessary for the purpose that the form in the cup have any real

resemblance to the thing thought of, only that it suggests that thing in some manner to

the mind.

Most of us at times forget the names of persons. In vain we try to recall the name of

someone whose face is quite familiar. Then someone begins to go over a list of

names, speaking them aloud. We know the names we hear are none of them the one

we seek, yet we do not remember the right one. Then the name of the person is

spoken, and we instantly recognize it as the one sought. It has, all the time, been

present in the unconscious mind, or soul, but has lacked the right association with

thoughts already in the brain to pull it to the surface of objective consciousness. But

once we hear it we recognize it instantly, and we do not accept other names as the

right one when they are heard.

Now this is just what happens in looking at tea-leaves or coffee-grounds, only that

sight instead of sound is used, and what we are trying to remember, although it is as

much in the unconscious mind as the person’s name we tried to remember, yet it has

never been in objective consciousness. It has never been recognized through the

physical brain. We nevertheless use a similar expedient.

In going over a long list of possible names, we go over a list of images supplied by the

imagination. A certain group of leaves or grounds may at once suggest the picture of

a certain object. On the other hand we may look at it some time trying to ascertain

what it resembles. It may actually look as much like a cat as like a duck. Nevertheless

as we look at it we wonder if it can be a cat, or a monkey, or a horse, or finally, a duck.

When we come to the image duck, we perceive that it certainly represents a duck. We

see it as a duck because the soul recognizes the duck as the symbol of some of the

information it is trying to impart to the physical brain. We recognize it as a duck

instead of something else for the same reason that we recognize the right name as

belonging to the person when we heard it. The name was in the unconscious mind,

and the information that the duck symbolizes was in the unconscious mind. Both the

name and the duck are mere symbols, the one for a person and the other for something

perceived by the senses of the soul.

It follows, then, that a very free imagination which causes images of various sorts

readily to be suggested by the most superficial resemblance to what is actually seen,

is often an advantage to a cup diviner. Not that the diviner usually is conscious of the

trial and error method of determining what a group of leaves or grounds looks like;

for with practice the line of association between the image in the soul and the

arrangement of grounds or leaves in the cup becomes so strong that the right image

may be recognized at once. Yet on those occasions when there is difficulty in

forming judgment, and at other times when a diviner has had little experience, it is a

decided advantage to have fertility of resources in the matter of the fancied likeness

of the arrangements in the cup to animals and inanimate objects.

To persons of the more imaginative type, a host of symbols may be seen in the

arrangement of grounds or leaves, one symbol crowding on another in the rapidity

with which it is recognized. Such persons read the cup with great ease. But their

readings are no more apt to be reliable than those of more deliberate minds.

Some persons must put forth a decided effort, and turn the cup this way and that, and

scrutinize each group of leaves or grounds with minute care, before they can get the

faintest suggestion that it looks anything like what they have ever previously seen.

Their reading of the cup is very slow, quite laborious, and usually lacking in flowery

trimmings. Yet those who divine in this painstaking manner are just as likely to

divine accurately as those of the other type. Not the facility with which images are

seen, nor with which symbols are translated into terms of events, determines the

reliability of the diviner, but the correctness of his conclusions. And this can only be

determined by comparing numerous cup-readings with subsequent events.

The Function of the Cup

—Let it be understood, then, that the cup is an instrument through which the soul of

the diviner, by means of a code, transmits information to his physical brain.

It may be asked why a code is necessary. I ask, in turn, why is a code necessary in

transmitting information by telegraph? It is because the telegraph instrument is a

device suited to code communications, and not to such direct messages as may be

transmitted by telephone. Likewise, the divining cup is a divinatory instrument

suited for transmitting code messages from the soul to the physical brain.

It is quite possible that information may be communicated from the soul to the

physical brain more directly, without the use of a code. In fact, those who use the cup

for divination frequently use the cup and its code messages merely as a starting point,

and after getting connected up, no longer pay much attention to what the cup

contains, gradually drifting into the more direct perception type of ESP in which

symbols are not used. This direct type of divination, however, is more difficult to

attain.

Most people, in sending a quick message from Los Angeles to New York, use the

telegraph. This does not imply that it is impossible to speak to a person in New York,

from Los Angeles, by telephone. It merely implies that it is more convenient for

many reasons to use the Morse Code of the telegraph system. The soul, in

communicating with the physical brain in reference to matters of which the latter has

no previous knowledge, likewise usually finds it more convenient to use the code of

symbolism.

By now it should be clear why a definite and predetermined routine should be

followed in manipulating the cup before it is given to the diviner. Not that turning the

inverted cup from left to right in the saucer, three times around, is of much

importance. That which is important is that the inner-plane intelligence present at the

time shall know the order of procedure; for knowing this facilitates the distribution of

the tea-leaves or coffee-grounds so as to present appropriate symbols.

Method of Interpretation

—For the best results, also, the soul of the diviner should know beforehand the

interpretation which is apt to be placed upon certain symbols and their positions in

the cup. Such a prearrangement, perhaps, is not absolutely essential for good results,

for the soul may perceive how a symbol will be apt to be interpreted. Also there are

many symbols universally accepted as having a certain significance. But the

information can be transmitted from the unconscious mind to the physical with more

certainty, with greater facility, and with more elaborate details, if there is a complete

understanding between them beforehand as to the precise meaning of the code, or

symbols, used. Thus a diviner might read the bottom of a cup as that which will

happen in the near future. And if his soul understood this—if the diviner habitually

read the cup in this manner—he could give a correct reading. Usually the bottom of

the cup is not so considered. But if it were read as the near future at one time, and as

the distant future at another, in all probability the unconscious mind would become

confused and the proper signal would not be given.

It is not so important that the diviner follow any particular code, or follow any one

routine in preference to another, or interpret a certain symbol as a certain thing and

not another. But it is exceedingly important that the same code be used at every

reading, that the same routine of reading be followed, and that the same symbol

always be interpreted in the same way. In other words, a system of signals should be

decided upon, which by repeated use also becomes well recognized by the soul,

enabling it to transmit messages to the physical brain with precision by the use of

these prearranged signals, or symbols.

A symbol, or signal, may be chosen quite arbitrarily. This, however, is quite

unnatural; for the mind when not forced permits one thing to represent another only

when there has been some familiar association between them. This association may

arise through their resemblance—likeness or unlikeness—or through the

circumstance that both were presented to the mind about the same time. This Law of

Association is explained in detail in lesson No. 57.

In divination people not only desire to know the nature of the events but they wish to

know when they will transpire and where they will take place. Applying the Law of

Association, because the contents of the cup closest to the brim is that portion first

contacted in drinking, it is quite natural to think of the brim as the present and any

emblems close to the brim as being significant of the immediate future. The bottom

of the cup, then, is suggestive of the very distant future, that portion of the cup where

it joins the bottom as the distant future, and the portion of the cup midway between

the brim and the bottom as moderately distant in the future. This gives five time

periods: 1. The present. 2. The immediate future. 3. The moderately distant future. 4.

The distant future. 5. The very distant future.

Then as the handle of the cup is the portion of the cup encircling the finger in

drinking—a place from which the movement of the cup is directed—we can readily

associate the handle with the home, or residence, of the person. Distances from the

handle, to the left or to the right, in the cup show at what distance from the home the

event will take place.

People may be shown in the cup by groups of leaves or grounds that closely resemble

people or their faces, or they may be represented by single tea-leaves, or small more

or less perpendicular groups of grounds. If the symbol is forked at the bottom, or if

there is no spreading to suggest a skirt, it is considered a man. But if the emblem is

perceptibly wider at the bottom, even slightly suggesting a skirt, it is considered to be

a woman. If the leaf or emblem is lighter in color than the average of the leaves or

grounds, the person represented is a blond; but if it is darker than the average, the

person represented is a brunette.

The Meaning of Symbols Seen

—The various past experiences of the diviner, through the association of certain

objects with these experiences, will, in all probability, have furnished his soul with

many symbols that have a specific meaning to it, which would not be comprehensible

to another person. Thus, if at some time he has had a misfortune come to him while

under some conspicuous tree, the symbol of a tree in the cup will signify misfortune.

Or if he has been bitten by a dog when he was a child, a dog among the emblems in the

cup will signify danger. If some dear friend was killed by a railway train this strong

association caused by the shock of the news of the accident may make a lasting

impression, so much so that a railway train may become the symbol of the death of an

acquaintance.

Each person has a large number of such symbols that have a meaning only to him,

because somewhere in the past they have been more or less associated with his

emotions. They are used by his soul through dreams and through divinatory

instruments, such as cup-divining, as a part of the code by which it endeavors to

impart information to the everyday consciousness. As no two persons have the same

experiences, no two persons will have the same code in all its details Therefore this

private code, which springs from the individual experience, must be learned by each

for himself. This may be done by reflecting on what kind of an experience in the past

a symbol calls to mind, and by observing what events actually come to pass after

observing a certain symbol.

By far the larger number of symbols used by the soul in its code messages to the

physical, however, have such an obvious association in the ordinary run of life that

they mean about the same thing to all who have not had some unusual experience that

is associated with them.

Thus, the symbols above mentioned, to the person without such extraordinary

experiences, have a very different meaning. The tree, because of its strength and long

life, is usually interpreted as a symbol of health and vitality. The dog, because of its

faithful companionship with man, is usually interpreted as a friend. And a railroad

train, because it is commonly used for transit, is usually interpreted as a journey.

The student who has studied astrology will frequently find astrological symbols in

the cup. These, of course, are interpreted according to their usual astrological

significance. Both letters and numbers, also, are frequently seen in the cup, and may

be interpreted by their significance as given in the Hermetic System of Names and

Numbers (Course VI). Any students who have given some study to the Sacred Tarot

(Course VI) will have a great number of symbols added to their repertory by which

their souls can transmit messages in code to their brains, for these symbols may be

interpreted according to the significance given to them in tarot study.

Let us carry our interpretations a step further, using almost the Free-Association

method of the psychoanalyst. To most, clear skies suggest good fortune, and cloudy

skies suggest trouble. Therefore, what is seen in the cup in the clear spaces, not in the

murky patches, may be interpreted as happenings without confusion or trouble, but

the same symbol seen in the cloudy part of the cup signifies that the event, although

essentially the same, was accomplished with difficulty and accompanied by much

trouble.

Dots usually may be interpreted as money. They appear like miniature coins.

Dashes may be interpreted as enterprises that have started but that need time to

mature. They suggest movement, yet reach no important destination.

A cross, because of its common religious association, is a symbol of hardship and

suffering.

A circle is something completed, or finished, because the line of which it is

composed has completed its cycle.

That which is found within a circle, or an enclosure, indicates that it is restricted or

imprisoned.

A wavy line, like water-waves, suggests, and may be interpreted as, indecision—as

changeable as water.

A line that is undulating, like a highway, may be interpreted as a road.

A long straight line, likewise, may be interpreted as a straight road.

A fox in the cup signifies trickery or cunning, and a cat signifies treachery, because of

their common associations.

A rabbit, because of its common association, symbolizes timidity and lack of

courage; and a snake, because of the biblical curse relating to its enmity to man,

usually may be interpreted as an enemy.

An arrow, because of its flight and ability to wound, is interpreted as unpleasant news

A bird on the wing, seen in the cup, because of the association common to the carrier

pigeon, and because migrating birds bring news of the approaching seasons, may be

interpreted as a message. The direction in which the bird is traveling indicates where

the message is going. If it is flying toward the handle of the cup it is approaching, but

if flying away from the handle of the cup, it is going away from the person receiving

the reading.

A horse, probably because in astrology Sagittarius symbolizes the higher mind, is

usually interpreted as a mental condition. If it is a light colored horse it signifies the

higher aspirations. If it is dark in color it signifies thought about more material things.

If it seems to be drawing a load, it means success through careful planning. If it seem

so be running away, it signifies that undue enthusiasm will carry the person beyond

that which is the part of wisdom.

A mouse, because of its common association with small difficulties, may be

interpreted as petty annoyances.

A rat, however, usually is interpreted as a thief.

Eggs symbolize plans, or ideas, that have useful possibilities.

A parrot, because it is commonly associated with much useless and sometimes

annoying talk, may be interpreted as a scandal.

A dove, on the other hand, is a symbol of peace.

A horseshoe, seen in the cup, even as it is so considered by popular tradition, is a

symbol of good luck. The object seen in the cup nearest to the horseshoe indicates

from whence the good luck will come.

Fish, commonly, are not to be interpreted according to the astrological sign Pisces,

because this significance is known only to astrologers, but according to the

fisherman’s notion, that of gain. Thus, more often than not, they signify money, and

the size of the fish indicates the size of the sum, and the direction it is going from the

handle of the cup determines whether the money is coming to the person or leaving

him.

A peacock is to be interpreted according to its common significance, being an

emblem of vanity.

A butterfly, because it flits from flower to flower, feeding on the nectar, is to be read

as pleasure.

A baby is to be interpreted as some enterprise just commenced.

A comet is the symbol of an unexpected event.

A fan, because it is sometimes used for clandestine signals, is the emblem of a

flirtation.

An umbrella, because of its use in rain-storms, is the emblem of impending

emotional stress.

A spoon, perhaps because of the colloquial expression ‘’to spoon," is the symbol of a

love affair.

A tortoise, or turtle, because of the traditional race between the tortoise and the hare,

is to be interpreted as success through slow, plodding effort.

A spider, because of the web it constructs in which to catch its prey, is to be

considered as the symbol of a trap, or plot, which is set to catch the person to whom

the reading is given.

A ship, because of its common association in the mind with the saying, “when your

ship comes in,” may be regarded as a symbol of approaching wealth.

A gun or pistol is the emblem of a dangerous enmity; a person who desires to injure

seriously.

A pair of scissors, because of their cutting edges and form, signifies two persons at

cross purposes.

A ring, because of its use in the marriage ceremony, is to be interpreted as a marriage.

A ladder, because it is used to climb, is to be interpreted as a rise in position, or greater

success.

A knife symbolizes a quarrel, and a broken knife that a quarrel is at an end.

Flies, because of the saying, “a fly in the ointment,” symbolize disagreeable

happenings that tend to spoil the plans.

A bottle, because of its usual association with intemperance, may be interpreted as

dissipation.

Flowers, because they are commonly used to express goodwill and kindness, may be

interpreted as happiness.

I might go on to mention almost every article commonly seen by man, and give its

interpretation when seen in the cup. But this would serve no good purpose. Those

symbols mentioned have been cited merely as examples of the manner in which the

emblems seen in the cup should be interpreted. To the soul, in its code messages to

the physical, an emblem symbolizes that which it is most strongly associated with in

the unconscious mind. This usually, though not always, is that event, or quality, or

thing, which most readily comes into the mind next after thinking of the emblem.

Usually, as in most of the above examples, the relationship between the symbol and

that which it signifies is quite clear after a moment’s reflection.

The skilled cup-diviner, however, does not leap from one symbol to some other on

the far side of the cup. He starts in with those symbols nearest the brim of the cup, and

nearest the handle. Often there will be a chain of symbols reaching from near the brim

down into the bottom of the cup; reaching from the present into the very distant

future. He permits his attention to follow these symbols in the order in which they

occur, and strives to perceive the exact relationship of each symbol to the next one in

the series, and perhaps how the symbols on one or both sides influence it. As he

passes from one symbol to another, observing the influence of adjacent symbols, he

endeavors to weave the whole into a connected story. He seeks to point out how one

event follows another, and what causes each. Instead of a disjointed account he

strives to knit together the influences and persons and events represented into such a

connected narrative of the future that it brings out all the important facts and

relationships.

Some Other Divinatory

Instruments

—In the early part of the lesson I mentioned that the ancients made forecasts from the

flight of birds. Birds in their flight, when in flocks, by their relation to each other,

present the outlines of symbols. These symbols, observed by viewing a flock of

birds, may be interpreted after the same manner as when reading a cup. In addition,

birds sometimes fly higher than usual and sometimes fly lower than usual, and

sometimes fly with more directness than at other times. Probably arbitrary meanings

once were attached to these methods of flight, but of much more consequence than

this was any peculiarity noticed by the observer. These peculiarities might be real or

fancied, but they gave the soul a chance to impart code messages by attracting

attention to these actions that seemed out of the ordinary.

The entrails of slain animals that were observed in ancient times as a means of

divination also were read in almost the same manner that I have described for

cup-divining. The viscera of the animal presented a glassy surface, somewhat similar

to that of a china cup. The entrails as they lay before the observer were curled and

twisted in fantastic designs, which prepresented many fanciful likenesses to the

forms of creatures and objects. Such of these symbols as were observed formed the

code message by which the soul of the diviner imparted information that it perceived,

regarding approaching conditions, to the physical brain.

Clouds, also, to one well versed in symbolism, may be used very effectively as a

divinatory instrument. They lack one factor that gives to the cup a decided advantage.

Tea-leaves and coffee-grounds are influenced to take certain shapes by the

inner-plane intelligence present. But we are hardly to suppose that clouds are so

influenced to any appreciable extent. They do, however, offer an extremely wide,

and ever-changing, range of symbols.

They should only be consulted as a divinatory instrument when the mind is quite

anxious about something, or after there has been a deliberate resolution to read them.

Then the attention should be centered closely upon the first clouds seen, working

from this center carefully, as a cup-diviner works from the brim near the cup-handle,

in a gradually widening circle. The attention should not wander all over the sky at

random, but each symbol should be interpreted as it is seen, in working out from this

arbitrarily chosen center. The interpretation should be made in precisely the same

manner as when divining by the cup.

In the use of the cup, clouds, globe of glass or magic mirror, the diviner with practice

will begin to get impressions apart from the symbols and what these symbols may

reasonably be expected to mean. A name, or a date, or less startling information, may

pop into his thoughts without any apparent connection with the symbols. He should

not hesitate to express these thoughts, and subsequently to test their accuracy. He

also may glimpse events apparently not suggested by the symbols. By expressing

these impressions and carefully watching for them, he will gradually develop the

direct type of Extra-Sensory Perception, in which that which he seeks to discern is

perceived objectively just as his soul senses perceive it on the inner plane instead of

objectively perceiving only their symbols. And he gradually will develop such

facility in the use of Extra-Sensory Perceptions that he will be able to discern that

which is transpiring at a distance, which has transpired in the past, or which will

transpire in the future, without the use of a divinatory instrument.

Many people in reference to divining or other use of ESP have an erroneous idea of

what to expect and how to proceed. As a consequence they do not get satisfactory

results, and decide they have no such ability. Yet there are very few people who

cannot learn cup-divining, although as in the exercise of inner-plane faculties by

other methods, or, for that matter, as in the exercise of any other art, there is a knack to

it. In almost every case all that is necessary finally to get this knack is to do

considerable experimenting and persistently to practice.

Nor is there, as I have tried to make clear, anything unnatural or detrimental in such

practices provided hypersensitivity or mediumship is not cultivated. There is a right

way and a wrong way of doing almost anything. One can injure the eyes by reading in

the twilight, and one can injure the ears by contacting noises that are too loud; but we

do not jump to the conclusion from this that people should not acquire information

through reading and listening to others. Nor should we condemn the acquiring of

information through the exercise of the senses and faculties of the soul merely

because it is possible to use them under conditions that are injurious.

Instead, we should realize that after a date not too distant, if we are to acquire

information we will be compelled to rely exclusively upon ESP because, having

passed from the physical, we will no longer have physical senses and a brain which

we can thus employ. Such training in ESP and other soul activity as we can get before

the transition, will make that much less training necessary when we move into the

after-earth life.